


All It Takes Is a Moment

by Selenay



Category: Call the Midwife
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Breakfast in Bed, F/F, Happy Ending, Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-16 05:08:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13047129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selenay/pseuds/Selenay
Summary: A few minutes here or there can change a lifetime.





	All It Takes Is a Moment

**Author's Note:**

  * For [merryghoul](https://archiveofourown.org/users/merryghoul/gifts).



> Thank you to my wonderful beta, H, for making this fic better.
> 
> Merryghoul, you asked for a story where Patsy and Delia are living together in their own home, and my mind went straight to a "what if" of what might have been if the accident hadn't happened. It's a story I've wanted to write for a while, so I hope it fits the gift bill for you.

_In one lifetime..._

"Twenty to?" Delia's worry chased away her beautiful smile. "I thought it was only quarter past. I must have got water in my watch."

Patsy smiled. "Take my bike."

After, she always wondered what would have happened if she hadn't offered Delia her bike, or if they'd left the flat a few minutes earlier or later. A million different versions of that day played out in her mind over the next few months, but she refused to let any of them run to their conclusion. It was too painful to think about what might have been.

***

_In another lifetime..._

"Half past? I thought it was only quarter past. I must have got water in my watch."

Patsy smiled. "Take my bike."

"Are you sure? If I hurry, I'll make it," Delia said, and they both knew she would take it.

"Park it outside the nurse's home. I'll fetch it before my shift tonight." Patsy took off her scarf and draped it around Delia's neck. "I don't want you catching cold."

Delia's warm smile made Patsy's insides melt. "You really are some kind of angel."

Delia's smile always tempted Patsy to kiss her, but they were in the street and she couldn't. Patsy settled for smiling at Delia and made a mental promise that she would always kiss her goodbye and hello when they were behind the doors of their little flat.

***

The Bradbury baby took twelve hours to deliver and Patsy almost called Doctor Turner at 3 am, when she started to worry that labour had stalled and it was all was about to go very wrong.

Then Melanie Bradbury made a horrible sound deep in her throat and her contractions resumed with a ferocity that took them both by surprise. The baby came quickly after that, with miraculously little tearing, and Patsy ushered a stunned Paul Bradbury in to meet his tiny girl at four o'clock. After that, it was just a matter of tidying and congratulating the new parents, and she was on her way home as dawn began to turn the sky silver.

The sun was peeking over the rooftops when Patsy let herself into the flat she shared with Delia. She wouldn't have long, because there were daily rounds no matter how many hours she'd been up through the night, but she didn't want to waste a minute at Nonnatus House when she could be here.

It still felt special, to be able to let herself into her home, knowing Delia was curled up warm and snug in their bed.

Their bed. That felt special, too. It had only been a couple of weeks since they officially took up residence, after days of intensive scrubbing and decorating, but she hoped the thrill of having a bed and home of their own would never wear off. It was somewhere they could be themselves, and could love each other in a way that the wider world didn't understand yet. 

Maybe one day they'd be able to walk down a street hand in hand or kiss in the back row at the cinema, but Patsy didn't think it would be in her lifetime. For now, what they had was this: a tiny flat in the poorest part of London with cracked plaster and a stain on the linoleum that bleach couldn't shift, and Patsy felt like the richest woman in the country.

She put her bag down as quietly as she could and tugged off her shoes, so the soles didn't clatter on the tiles. She hung her coat over Delia's, and smiled at the red scarf tucked under the collar. She would never ask Delia to return it because she loved seeing Delia wear something of hers.

In the kitchen, she set the coffee percolator up to begin brewing and hummed quietly as she made up a tray of breakfast for two. When the coffee looked right--she'd been given lessons by Delia and she'd just about got it now--she added the pot, milk, and cups to the tray and carried it carefully to their bedroom.

There was a second bedroom, but they never used it. Patsy dusted it once a week, to make it look lived-in, but otherwise it was ignored.

She put the tray down on the table they'd put beside the door for just this purpose. The doorknob was tricky and inclined to stick, and Patsy had dropped a box of books when they were moving in, trying to juggle too many things and open the door at the same time. It swung in silently and Patsy stepped inside, pausing for a moment to take in the view she would never get tired of seeing.

Delia was lying on "her" side of the bed, half on her back but twisted around so she could bury her face in Patsy's pillow. If Patsy had been there with her, Delia's face would have been buried in the crook of her neck. Patsy remembered feel of Delia's breath on her throat, the total trust and need so silently implied, that always made her heart feel five times too large for her rib cage. It was her favourite way to wake up in a morning.

Delia's hair was messy and untied, so different from the pristine face she presented to the world. A sliver of pale sunlight was sneaking through a gap in the curtains to highlight the curve of her cheek. She'd kicked half the covers onto Patsy's side of the bed, she was wearing practical striped pyjamas, and she was the most beautiful, sexy, amazing woman Patsy had ever seen.

She'd fallen for Delia the day they met. She'd never expected to fall for anyone, never mind falling so fast and so hard her head still sometimes spun from the joy of it.

Patsy drank in the scene for a couple of minutes, but she could feel the time slipping away. Too soon, they would have to leave the flat and return to the world where they were just good friends and nothing more.

She padded over to the bed and sat down, reaching out to brush a lock of Delia's hair away from her face. Delia's eyelashes fluttered, but she didn't open her eyes. A beautiful smile blossomed anyway, sweet and filled with so much love it made Patsy's chest ache.

"Good morning," Patsy said softly.

Delia's voice was low and scratchy from sleep. "Hello. I smell bleach and coffee, with just a hint of burnt toast. My favourite scents."

Patsy couldn't restrain her grin. "Even the burnt toast?"

Delia's eyes opened and the sparkle in them was everything. "Even the burnt toast. It means you've made me breakfast in bed and I feel like the luckiest woman alive."

"You can't be." Patsy grinned. " _I'm_ the luckiest woman alive. We can't both be."

"We can."

"That's completely illogical."

"When has love ever been logical?"

For that, Patsy had to lean down and kiss her, even though Delia playfully pretended to protest about her morning breath for a moment. But Delia melted into the kiss almost immediately, wrapping her arms around Patsy to pull her closer, and surrendering a few of their precious minutes together to kisses seemed like an excellent idea.

The toast was cold by the time Patsy fetched the tray from the hallway, but Delia declared it perfect anyway. And marmalade could hide a multitude of sins, if it was slathered on thick enough. At least the coffee was good.

"The grill is temperamental," Delia said, as she scraped off a really charred bit and dolloped on more marmalade. "You'll get the hang of it."

Patsy rolled her eyes. "It behaves perfectly well for you."

"Only because I've had practice with worse," Delia said. "We'll have you whipping up perfect meals in no time."

"I'd settle for being able to make eggs on toast without burning the flat down." Delia's eyebrows rose, and Patsy quickly added, "I didn't try to make eggs, don't worry. You can supervise next time."

Delia shook her head. "I've watched you with the Cubs. You can cook a sausage over a fire without burning it and make drop scones with a tin can and a candle. How does the oven keep defeating you?"

Patsy shrugged. "I'm as mystified as you."

Delia leaned over and gave her a sticky kiss. "Don't worry, I'll still love you even if you burn the flat down."

"Even if we have to go back to live at Nonnatus House?"

Delia sipped her coffee thoughtfully. "Do you know, I'd probably still love you even then."

Patsy's heart did the little skippy thing it always did when Delia told her so easily that she was loved. She smiled and ate her charred toast.

As she was piling up the plates and cups on the tray and Delia was trying to find the belt for her uniform, Patsy glanced over at the dresses hanging on the front of the wardrobe. Yellow for Delia, who always looked perfect in yellow, and dark green for Patsy.

"You'll be back from the hospital in time, won't you?" Patsy asked.

Delia emerged from under the bed with her belt held triumphantly. "Of course. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Patsy smiled. "Good."

"If anyone is going to miss Fred and Violet's wedding," Delia said, giving her a mock pout, "it's you, Nurse Mount. You've warned all your expectant mothers that they can't go into labour today, haven't you?"

"It doesn't work like that, Deels." Patsy smiled at her, but underneath the joking, she could see a hint of wistfulness in Delia's eyes. "What's wrong?"

"We'll never get that," Delia said quietly. "I'll never get to walk up an aisle with you smiling at me and make vows to you."

Patsy put the tray down on the end of their unmade bed. She took Delia's hands and kissed her knuckles, holding Delia's gaze. "We're as good as married. In all the ways that count, in my heart, we're married. I don't need a piece of paper to tell me that you're the other half of my soul. I'm going to be here with you, in sickness and in health, for the rest of our lives."

The wistfulness didn't disappear, but Delia's beautiful smile returned and Patsy's heart was full.

***

_In all their lifetimes..._

The registry office was fuller than Patsy had expected. Faces were missing, too many of them, but over fifty years took its toll. As she walked down the short aisle, clutching her small bouquet of roses, she found the eyes of old friends who had become family--Trixy, Sister Winifred, Sister Cynthia, Barbara--and new friends and everyone in between. Delia's niece and great-nieces. Fred's grandchildren. Two of her Cubs, now grown up with children and even a grandchild she'd helped to deliver.

She reached the front of the room and the incredibly young registrar gave her an encouraging smile.

Patsy turned as Delia walked into the room and her breath caught in her throat, as it had for more years than she cared to think about. Delia was more beautiful than ever. Her hair was white now, her skin showing the lines from all their laughter together, and Patsy had never loved anyone more. Delia was wearing yellow--they had both laughed at the idea of wearing white after all these years--and her bouquet was a huge spray of carnations in every colour they could find.

Delia's gaze locked with hers and Patsy smiled.

After everything, all the good times and bad times, this was the one adventure she'd never dreamed they would have.

Delia reached the front of the room and Patsy wanted to kiss her, but years of restraint held her back. She settled for standing so close they could tangle their little fingers together as the registrar announced their intention to marry and asked if anyone objected.

Her restraint lasted through the vows, where her voice definitely didn't wobble at the sickness and health part, and through the exchange of rings, but then the registrar told them to kiss...and she did.

In front of all their friends, old and new, present and departed, Patsy kissed Delia with all her heart and soul.

They'd already lived happily for a long time, and now their ever after was perfect.


End file.
